Amazon Preview

September 04, 2007

Mental Health Care Down, but Prisons Up

In an addendum to yesterday's story, according to NPR today, mental health care all over the world suffers -- nobody does a good enough job at it, or frankly, enough of it. Here's a link to that story. It's perfectly possible that in a three-way contest, we just prefer prisons, or outright neglect. Let's hope not...

BTW, to substantiate the prison remark, here are some facts. According to a report last month on NPR's excellent Marketplace show, the U.S. prison population is exploding.

"Currently over two million are incarcerated in America, but many cash-strapped states are running out of room for additional inmates. So states are turning to private prisons like the Corrections Corporation of America. The company operates 65 prisons, and it's building as quickly as it can. Late yesterday, the Corrections Corporation of America reported earnings were up nearly 25 percent from last year."

Additionally, "the U.S. prison population is expected to jump by about 200,000 people over the next five years at a cost of more than $27 billion."